Whole Foods: Plastic vs.....Plastic?

The paper or plastic question is a doozy. A quick google search on the topic yields 13,900,000 results. Anyone looking for a definitive answer has their work cut out for them.....of course, we know the real answer: neither, bring your own.

Both paper and plastic require raw materials and energy (fossil fuels) to produce and transport, both processes emit water and air pollution, and both need to be "dealt" with after their ever-so-brief lifespans. Which means they either go to the landfill, are recycled, or somehow wind up on the sides of freeways, in local surf spots, etc.

So to make life easier for us, Whole Foods is eliminating the choice, and going all plastic, at least in the Southern region......

More to come about this.

Win TJ's raffle when you BYO!

Just learned about this one: every time you bring your own bag to Trader Joe's, you enter to win a raffle for a $25 shopping spree! They have drawings twice a month, so the odds are pretty good.....especially since it doesn't seem like a ton of peeps are responding....yet.

Same old same old, this great store promotion, yet not alot of signage, save this little reminder up at the register. Of course, if you didn't bring your own bag, the reg. sign is a wee bit too late. Maybe keychains would work? Something you look at before leaving the house? I've been eyeing these great ones made out of recycled bike chains for when I have some $ to put into BYO goods.

In any event, the TJ's raffle is awesome - $25 at TJ's could fetch some pretty nice loot. So take advantage!

Wild Oats Wooden Nickel Program

Not only do you cut back on unrecyclable disposable nasties when you Bring Your Own, you often get a little discount from cafes or markets - usually only 5 or 10 cents, but it all adds up in the grand scheme of things.

Even better, Wild Oats has a program where you can either opt for the 5 cents off, OR donate to a local charity through their Wooden Nickel Program. In return for your mindfullness, the cashier will hand you a little wooden nickel that you deposit in a slot, choosing between 3 local non-profits, who likely need the 5 cents more than your average Wild Oats shopper.

What suprises me is how few people I see responding to this - I'm a regular at Wild Oats, and rarely see people bringing their own bags. I wonder what percentage of people remember, and how we might work to up the numbers......will hafta look into this one. Any ideas from anyone?

City of Santa Monica bans styrofoam

Kudos to the City of Santa Monica! Our City Council just took a bold, proactive step in addressing contamination by styrofoam disposables: ban the stuff altogether.


Council member Kevin McKeown championed a more expansive ban, including non-recyclable plastics in addition to styrofoam. Key to the discussion is styrofoam and plastics' impacts on our marine environment - these nasty synthetics stick around for an eternity, endangering wildlife, choking ecosytems, and spoiling our surf sessions.

How will this affect businesses? What sort of price tag will this carry? And might there be an opportunity to encourage more people to bring their own containers for carry out?

Writings

Keeping Styrofoam out of Santa Monica Sushi

Planned Obsolescence: Gift Gadgets Turned Toxic

Two Wheels, Zero Emissions, Zero Guilt

Greening Their Bottom Line

A Red Line Connects Us

New Roads for Old Glory

The Flavor of Fairness

New Years Resolution '06: More Grease In My (Car's) Diet

WATTS UP at Samohi

It's the Local Economy Genuius

Tired of Trashy Trysts? Bring Your Own

Anna Cummins

Anna Cummins would much rather be riding around Los Angeles on her Xtracycle than sitting in front of a computer, however she recognizes the power of the Internet to communicate, motivate, and inspire.

Anna's interest in all things green began with an early gravitation towards compost and worms. She has since gone on to work in environmental non-profits, with a focus on marine conservation, environmental education, and sustainable living.

An avid bike enthusiast, Anna joins the Worldchanging Team to write about two wheeled matters. She hopes to encourage others to ditch their petromobiles and join the fossil-fuel free velorution. When not writing or thinking about bikes, she teaches organic/vegetarian cooking to high school kids, runs a local Bring Your Own campaign, and dreams of travel to beautiful places.

the coffee cup landscape

A typical day in front of.....a coffee shop on Montana. Not to single this coffee shop out, as a) I LOVE their coffee and b) you'd find the same image at just about any java joint in town.

Granted, vendors of disposables are just the providers, and ultimately we consumers must make the right choices.

I just see such an opportunity for them - markets, coffee shops, "to go" restaurants, etc. - to play a leadership role in helping the busy, forgetfull consumer with some signage. Will post next an awesome sign my super creative friend wendy made.

BYO kits here

My sassy cousins Audrey Eamer and Ash Adams modeling new BYO cups and bags.

Bags are organic cotton totes - thanks to Patagonia for the generous donation, as well as all the other ways they support eco causes. Printing by Homeboy Industries, downtown (LA) company that trains and employs former gang members.

Cups and bags will be available for purchase soon on website - meantime you can ask me directly and I'll send you a kit - $8/bag, $10/cups, or $15 for both.







"Stop being a ?@#$%^! and Bring Your Own."
- Ash Adams, writer/filmmaker

Gotta pay your (water bottle) antimony??

Yet another reason to avoid plastics. The chemical antimony present in possibly “unhealthy levels” in PET water and beverage bottles.

It's that confounded “possibly” part that continues to creep me out. I remember learning about the “precautionary principle” back in grad school, fancy way of saying, “if you’re not sure that it’ll harm you, assume it will till proven otherwise.”

While we're talking fair trade.....

My most recent column in the Santa Monica Mirror, on Fair Trade issues. This will be the first of two in the series, the next will feature some local Fair Trade activism - like the Starbucks Challenge, spearheaded by Green LA Girl and City Hippy.

Parlez vous?

Ah, the wonders of the cyber world…..

Check out the campaign Maya is kick starting in Antibes, France.

Through her lovely chalk written sign, I learned the French for “Fair Trade” :
Produits de commerce equitable.

Shows yet again that the disposables issue is universal....

Take one down, stitch it around, 120 plastic bags on the wall..

Melissa’s recent post on her LA Green Living blog about the # of plastic bags in her closet (43) reminded me of the scary, mounting pile I have in my own.

I’ve been saving them since I moved to L.A. last December (’04) with the intention of knitting them into a cool tote - one of those back burner projects. Maybe its time, given I have 140 of them...Majority of them in photo above. Spring cleaning?

Tried this once in Santa Cruz, went through laborious collecting, sorting, cutting, making into yarn process, got a ways in, and...it was awful - I'm not much of a knitter, so working w/ plastic yarn was tough. The result: super awkward shape, just off. So I abandoned the project.

Time to try again, and this time get some tips, maybe from someone with knitting skills. How cute is that knit cell phone case?

(anti) disposable divas unite!

Through the blog world, I'm meeting more and more people who share my anti-disposables mania.

Just yesterday discovered Melissa, of LA Green Living, exploring green lifestyles in Los Angeles. No, this is not an oxymoron.....In addition to her blog, Melissa started a guide for how to live without plastic bags, a wealth of information on the whys and hows of avoiding this ubiquitous offender.

Mentioned on Melissa's blog is fellow anti-waste champion Stephanie Bernstein, founder of To-Go Ware - an awesome, styley line of reusable lunch kits and wooden utensils.

And then last night found another kindrid spirit in Jasmin, who expresses how pissed off she is watching rampant negligence turn our urban environs into a dumping grounds....she has a few other things to be pissed off about here. And I couldn't agree more, time for a little outrage. Time to get riled up a bit! Too many of us are sleepwalking.

A few other environmensters who share my waste woes: Maya, Siel, Lauren.......looks like I need to meet some more (anti) disposable dudes to join the diva posse. Hombres, come forward!

Plastic in your coffee?

Just in from Treehugger, a new company MicroGreen working on plastic coffee cups made entirely from recycled beverage containers. Interesting, as there’s a need for more recycled plastic uses. I wonder though, are these still meant to be disposable? Fully recyclable? And how do they rate on the whole safety factor?

Not sure I'd want to drink hot liquid out of plastic. Theres been a slew of reports out in the last year about plastic possibly leaching toxic chemicals into our food and water. While some question this research, I personally would rather play it safe till someone proves otherwise.

I'll take stainless steel with my coffee for now.....

Sunshines gettin' wasted

As an alternative to the Sunshine Landfill just above Granada Hills, LA is looking into hauling trash elsewhere, to a near by city. Riverside? Avenal? Anyone want our Nimby nasties? We certainly don’t.

Worlds largest landfill...in the ocean?

Think Hawaii is far enough “away” to find pristine shores? Not so fast.....read this account of a massive aquatic trash heap washing up on the Islands, leaving a trail of plastic crap and fishing gear in its wicked wake.

Further supports the idea that “pristine” wilderness is a thing of the past, as shown here in this excellent slideshow by one of my favorite projects shifting baselines.

In the last few weeks, anecdotes from friends and supporters have encouraged me to revive this blog. Which, despite xtra time in front of computer, is a good venue for communication.

Like Maya for example, a blogger in France who happened upon BYO through Green LA Girl's wehsite. And several messages from well intentioned BYOers whove tried to bring personal cups to Coffee Bean, Starbucks, and others, to have valient efforts thwarted by baristas measuring java quantities in paper cups, pouring into their reusable mugs, and then tossing paper cup. Thus defeating the entire purpose.

More to say on this topic later. For now, just keep trying, and let me know how it works out for you.....

Think B4 You Drink

Not directly on the reusables topic, but as it relates to coffee:

Listened to a great group of impassioned teens from New Roads present some awesome posters they crafted on Fair Trade issues. Two addressed the Starbucks Challenge, urging responsible java sipping with their slogan, “think before you drink”.

Whats your contribution?

Came across this very cool tool for calculating your annual coffee cup waste in pounds, thanks to Kieran Lynn, creator of dzignism. For example, buying 4 throwaway cups a week generates 13 pounds of waste a year......

Joining the blogolution

Inspired by some fellow green bloggers out there, especially the prolific green la girl, I finally decided to start spreading the Bring Your Own message via cyber space.

The idea for this BYO campaign arose as much from my coffee habit as my growing disgust with the buildup of unnecessary plastic crap in the world. I love a good latte, but the java experience was becoming more unpleasant as I'd watch troops of coffee drinkers getting their daily fix in throwaway cups (with plastic lids mind you) yet drinking them right there!

This, and the copious amounts of plastic bags carted off by "eco conscious" consumers at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, etc. set me off on a personal crusade to spread the word.

So grab your commuter cup, tote bag, cloth napkin, and stand by......